Hewitt fighting to gain top 10 spot

For Lleyton Hewitt, it's a case of what a difference a year makes as he prepares for his latest French Open campaign.

This time 12 months ago the former world No.1 was struggling with a nagging hip injury and left it until the last moment to decide whether he would be fit enough to compete.

While he managed to make it through to the third round at Roland Garros in May 2008 and then went on to Wimbledon the following month, he finally succumbed to surgery in August and took several months off to recover.

Since returning to the tour circuit in January, Hewitt has made steady progress towards fulfilling his aim of making it back into the top 10 after his ranking slid to 108.

There was no sign of his troublesome hip as the 28-year-old, who many say is entering the twilight of his career, shared a one-and-a-half hour practice session with Spaniard Juan Carlos Ferrero in Paris on Friday.

The golfing buddies made the most of the near-perfect conditions under a clear blue sky to fine tune their performances on the red dirt ahead of the grand slam's opening day on Sunday.

At one stage Ferrero, another former world No.1, even teased Hewitt with one of the Australian's famous "c'mon" cries after he missed a shot.

Hewitt, whose ranking is now No.50, was buoyed by his win at the US Men's Clay Court Championship in Houston in April, but faces a tough draw in Paris with a first-round clash against 26th seed Ivo Karlovic.

The big-serving Croatian has beaten Hewitt each of the three times they have met in the past six years.

If Hewitt manages to break his losing streak against Karlovic, there is the even more daunting prospect of facing world No.1 and four-time defending champion Rafael Nadal in the third round.

Hewitt's manager David Drysdale said the gritty Australian is not perturbed by the draw at Roland Garros, where he reached the quarter-finals in 2001 and 2004.

"He has played him (Ivanovic) before and I think he would be quietly confident," Drysdale told AAP as he watched Hewitt slog it out on the practice court with Ferrero.

"It's going to be a very tough match.

"Lleyton is going to have to rely a lot on his return serve and grinding the points out.

"But he feels he is hitting the ball well enough so he sees himself as a good chance.

"He's feeling good and looking forward to it.

"He's enjoying clay more and more every year."

While Hewitt is much fitter than he was in Paris a year ago, there is still the prospect his hip injury could come back to haunt him.

"I think obviously playing on this surface can take a lot out of you," Drysdale said.

"If he was to have a long five-set match it will be interesting to see how the hip will pull up, but we don't expect there to be any problems."